To Say Sit
by Lady Shikyo
Summary: Years have passed, and Naraku and his minions are dead and gone with. Everyone's happy, even Inuyasha's brother to some extent . But then, Naraku never could stand happily ever afters. . .and. . .what is that around Sesshomaru's neck? Could it be. . . ?


Hello~

This fic is dedicated to the brilliant and amazing **archangelraphaelsdaughter**! *glomps*

Warnings: OC, yaoi. . .and that's all I'm gonna warn. It's kinda pointless to spoil your own story, neh?

Oh, well maybe I should warn this: peoples ages might be a little skewed. . .

Enjoy! (I hope~)

- - -

_They're getting closer_.

Gasp for breath, run hard, don't look back, don't look up. Don't _ever_ look up. If he looks up, he'll see their eyes. If he sees their eyes, he's as good as dead. They make no noise as they chase him; their feet make no noise on the ground. They don't even _have_ feet. Or do they? He forgets. They don't have wings though, and they can still fly, so why can't they run without feet?

His own feet don't make much noise as he runs. He isn't wearing shoes, abandoned long ago in a futile attempt at silence. It's just flesh on concrete, and that's all the better in the end. He doesn't know why.

Gasp for breath, run hard, don't look back, don't look up.

His lungs are burning, cold autumn night air equivalent to crystalline needles grating down his windpipe. He can't even swallow, his mouth and throat are so dry. He's tried to, but then he just gags instead.

He doesn't know how long he's been running, just the pounding of his heart in his ears that has gone on for too long. His feet are light on the ground, carrying him away despite his legs feeling like they're being slowly ripped apart. Not to mention his sides.

He turns a corner and vaults a fence, safely clearing it with the feline grace that is his birthright, and barely missing a beat or second of time. But now even his hands hurt; splinters pierced deep into his skin, he can feel blood that's the wrong colour wetting the already sweat-slicked flesh.

Blood.

That was bad. They would smell it, they would follow it. But his feet must be bleeding by now. He didn't know if they were: they were numb. With the pain or with the cold, or maybe both. So there was already a path of dark footprints leading _them_. Stupid. . .

Now he's on stairs. How did he get there? He doesn't know, but he isn't about to turn back. He runs up, climbing, skipping steps, and runs and runs and runs. Why are there so many stairs? Why are there so many _fucking_ stairs?

They can probably see him now. High ground is a bad idea with them; they're on all levels of sky. All he can do is keep on running, until the night is over.

But he knows he isn't going to live this time. He knew his days were numbered, and that this was the last number on his life's calendar. This whole fleeing thing was just a primal instinct enforcing its will on him.

No more stairs are left, he's reached the top, as high as it goes. He races forward, eyes glancing everywhere, slit pupils taking in every detail in their search for somewhere with an illusion of safety. Finally they fall upon an old shrine building to the side, and instantly he veers his course to its doors. He snaps the door open, and then closed behind him. His hands press on the wood as he leans on the door, panting. The room is suddenly much colder.

Trying to calm his breathing, he looks around the dark shrine. Down a few stairs is a well, and he steps down to get a closer look. He peers inside it and sees that it's empty of all water, and strangely there's a rope ladder leading down to its bottom. He stares down, and then a smile quirks at his features. This could work. After all, breaking your neck or cracking your head open is a much better way to die than being eaten alive. So he perched on the edge of the well, looking at the shrine door, which started to shake and jerk. They had found him.

He smiled a little once again. This was easier than he'd thought it'd be. He leaned back, his vision rising up to finally rest on the ceiling the farther he leant. And finally. . .

He fell.

- - -

Trees rustled, their soft and natural sound soon stampeded over by Rin's happy laughter. And yet somehow, the young girl's sound seemed more natural than that of the trees.

That's what Sesshomaru got for spending too much time with a human.

It had been years--the demon didn't bother to count; time was pointless to him--since he had brought Rin back from the dead. The child didn't look much different from back then, and while she _had_ grown, Sesshomaru had the feeling that the growth was less than it should have been. Not that Sesshomaru knew much about human children. . .

Perhaps it was a side-effect of using the Tenseiga to revive her. But it did not seem to bother the child, so the matter was left forgotten.

Rin hadn't changed much at all actually, though she was a little more determined and would on occasion even argue with Sesshomaru. The first time she had disobeyed him, he'd been shocked. Which said a lot, considering it was Sesshomaru. . .

But the reason for Rin's laughter this particular day was because of such an argument, which she had won. She, Sesshomaru, Jaken, and Ah-Un were on their way to visit his half-breed brother and his friends. Specifically, to see Sango and Miroku: they were expecting their first-born soon, and Rin was dying to see the baby. When it came to families, Rin was hopeless. She'd forced them to go to the monk and slayer's wedding as well.

And Inuyasha's.

The more Sesshomaru thought on it, the more he realized that everyone around him was getting hitched. Sango and Miroku, Inuyasha and Kagome, and now that Shippo and Kohaku had grown to teenagers, they had started showing signs of attraction. Granted, Shippo being as open-hearted as he was showed it much more than Kohaku did, but the dog-demon could still tell.

Fuck. Even _Jaken_ had found himself a sweet little imp.

Not that Sesshomaru _wanted_ a mate. No, that was unthinkable. He refused to let his thoughts branch off in that direction. The son of the Great Dog Demon did not, and would never depend on someone else. End of story.

Rin chased a butterfly off the path, and Sesshomaru altered his and Ah-Un's course to follow her, Jaken grumbling. The imp still wasn't fond of the human girl, and was still a little jealous of her, though the demon would never admit it.

The soft breeze changed direction, and Sesshomaru paused "Rin" At the single world the child halted "Climb Ah-Un. Jaken, watch her" Rin obeyed instantly, not deterred at all, and Jaken scrambled to join her before Ah-Un started off for Inuyasha's village. The dog demon watched them for a moment, and then started in the direction of the source of the breeze. The scent carried on it shouldn't be there, or at least, not as strongly as it was. There weren't any of them that denned in this area. . .

He smelled wolves.


End file.
